Israel tested a US-backed missile system in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, a launch that was not announced in advance and whose disclosure by Russia kept the world on edge as Washington weighed an attack on Syria.
The morning launch was first reported by Moscow media that quoted Russian defence officials as saying two ballistic “objects” had been fired eastward from the centre of the sea — roughly in the direction of Syria.
The news ruffled financial markets until Israel’s defence ministry said that it, along with a Pentagon team, had carried out a test-launch of a Sparrow missile.
The Sparrow, which simulates the long-range missiles of Syria and Iran, is used for target practice by Israel’s US-backed ballistic shield Arrow.
“Israel routinely fires missiles or drones off its shores to test its own ballistic defence capabilities,” a US official said in Washington.
Western naval forces have been gathering in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea since President Bashar al-Assad was accused of carrying out an August 21 gas attack in his more than two-year-old conflict with rebels trying to topple him. Damascus denies responsibility for the incident. US President Barack Obama had been widely expected to order reprisal strikes on Syria last week but put them off to seek support from legislators in Washington first.
Pentagon spokesman George Little said Tuesday’s missile test was long-planned and unrelated to Syria. “This test had nothing to do with United States consideration of military action to respond to Syria’s chemical weapons attack,” he said.
With US action on Syria delayed as Mr Obama confers with Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to play up the Jewish state’s ability to deal with its foes alone. On Tuesday, the PM spoke of anti-missile systems as a national “wall of iron”.
“These things give us the power to protect ourselves, and anyone who considers harming us would do best not to,” he said in a speech. Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon shrugged off a question from reporters on whether the launch might have been ill-timed. He said Israel had to work to maintain its military edge and “this necessitates field trials and, accordingly, a successful trial was conducted to test our systems. And we will continue to develop and to research and to equip the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) with the best systems in the world.”
A Russian defence ministry spokesman quoted by the Interfax news agency said the launch was picked up by an early warning radar station at Armavir, near the Black Sea, which is designed to detect missiles from Europe and Iran.
RIA, another Russian news agency, later quoted a source in Syria’s “state structures” as saying the objects had fallen harmlessly into the sea.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu informed President Vladimir Putin of the launch but it was not immediately clear how he reacted.
Five US destroyers and an amphibious ship are in the Mediterranean, poised for possible strikes against Syria with cruise missiles — which are not ballistic. US officials said the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and four other ships in its strike group moved into the Red Sea on Monday.